SUNDAY LAW NEWS 2018

​No Sunday Shopping at the American Dream Mega Mall, Whenever it Opens (December 2018)Blue Laws will keep closed retailers at the gigantic mall taking shape in the Meadowlands. But that doesn't mean the entire complex will be closed on Sundays. Nearly half of American Dream will be comprised of entertainment -- roller coasters, a ski slope, restaurants and more. Those elements of the development are not impacted by the Bergen County laws that forbid buying non-essential items on Sundays.​News Article:Link

North Dakota lawmakers to mull Sunday shopping ban repeal (December 2018)​Two Fargo lawmakers say the time is ripe to repeal Sunday business restrictions in North Dakota that have been in place since statehood and rooted in religious tradition. Democratic Rep. Pam Anderson and Republican Rep. Shannon Roers Jones are sponsoring nearly identical legislation aimed at stripping the nation’s strictest so-called blue laws from the books. “The time has come,” said Anderson, whose bipartisan measure was defeated by a handful of votes in the Senate last year. Three of the Republican senators who voted against the repeal are no longer in the Legislature. “We were close last time and I think a couple of others, we can flip,” Roers Jones said. Her father, Fargo GOP Sen. Jim Roers, voted against the repeal last time and is expected to do the same this session, she said. “We argue about it all the time,” she said.​News Article:Link

​Protestant churches in Zeeland, Netherlands, protest about rainbow flag and Sunday shopping (November 2018)"Two thirds of the Protestant churches in the Zeeland municipality of Tholen have launched a campaign against the use of the rainbow flag to support gay rights and about shops opening on Sunday."News article:Link

Paris bans cars on first Sunday of every month to improve air quality (October 2018)Parisis expanding its car-free zones to include most of the city-centre, in a move to combat air pollution and open up more space to pedestrians. Cars will be banned in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th arrondissements for the first Sunday of every month, beginning this weekend on October 7.​News Article: Link

​New Italian Government Plans to Curb Sunday Shopping (September 2018)The new Italian government will introduce a ban on Sunday shopping in large commercial centers before the end of the year as it seeks to defend family traditions, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Sunday.In a bid to spur economic growth, the then Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti liberalized Sunday trading in 2012, despite pressure from the Roman Catholic Church and unions who said the country needed to keep its traditional day of rest. "This liberalization is in fact destroying Italian families," said Di Maio, who is head of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement. "We need to start limiting opening and closing times again," he told reporters.Earlier this year, Poland restricted Sunday shopping as the conservative government in Warsaw pushed ahead with what it said was a return to Roman Catholic values.​News article:Link Another Link

Why Sunday Is the Most Important Day of the Week for Your Well being (June 2018)"Your business will benefit when you prioritize time for yourself and the important people in your life ... Former emergency-room physician and author Matthew Sleeth explained the importance of taking a day of rest in a recent interview with CNN. 'For almost 2,000 years,' Sleeth said, 'Western culture stopped -- primarily on Sunday -- for about 24 hours ... Sunday is prime social time ... Sunday is the perfect day for self care ... Sunday gives you a jump on planning ... Reclaim Sunday as a day of rest in your 24/7 world."Can you see how Satan is pushing the Sunday issue today? It's not just a 'religious' issue anymore. It's also being pushed now as a social issue, and one that will affect society as a whole, whether it's business, religion, family, or nature. And this issue has gathered more momentum since the pope's encyclical on the climate. Showing that the world is truly 'wondering after the beast' (Rev.13).News article: Link

​How Europeans are fighting back against Sunday trading (May 2018)​"Changes to the law have made it harder than ever for ordinary Catholics to honor Sunday's day of rest. But there is hope ... Populist movements across Europe have begun to push back ... Only those who recognize that the common good concerns a man's soul can explain why we should legislate rest on Sunday."News article: Link

​Taking Sunday Seriously — Poland Leads the Way (April 2018)The European nation’s new law sharply restricting Sunday shopping provides an opportunity to take a closer look at American habits. "Sunday has just become a little less busy in Poland, thanks to a new law banning most commercial shopping that took effect in March. And Poland's move, which bucks the prevailing trend in secularized countries toward an ever-more commercialized Sunday, could provide a constructive example for the United States, where the network of state 'blue laws' that once restricted Sunday business activities has been substantially reduced."Poland leading the way and providing an example to America? We know what that means right? Sunday laws are coming!​News article: Link

Most stores shut in Poland as Sunday trade ban takes effect (March 2018)A parking lot stands empty in Warsaw, Poland, as a ban on most Sunday trade goes into effect across the country. New Polish law banning almost all trade on Sundays has taken effect, with large supermarkets and most other retailers closed for the first time since liberal shopping laws were introduced in the 1990s after communism’s collapse.​News article: Link

European Sunday Alliance calls on all its supporters to take action against Sunday Work (March 2018)​"The European Sunday Alliance is convinced that working on Sundays endangers the health and safety of workers as well as the social cohesion in our societies ... Only a well-protected common work-free day per week enables citizens to enjoy full participation in cultural, sports, social and religious life and allows for reconciliation. That is why the European Sunday Alliance commits itself to safeguarding a work-free Sunday."News article: Link

Author, Economist and Religious Scholar, Dr.David Smadja calls for an INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY DAY OF REST to Combat 'climate change' (January 2018)

"Dr. Smadja's daring plan calls for an international day of rest (about 53 days per year) plus approximately 15 'holidays' where cumulatively there would be a cessation of all productive activity for approximately 70 days, or about 20percent of the year. These days of 'non-activity' would help achieve the shared goal outlined in the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) of a 20 percent reduction of pollution globally by 2050, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2 degreesC ... This frantic race to go faster and faster makes us forget essential things, such as loving ourselves, others and also our earth ... the result is a global disaster, whose ecological impact is more and more obvious. A Sabbath for ourselves, our industry and our environment is a corrective to these failures."News article: Link

​New Jersey Mayor says Protecting Sunday Blue Laws "will always be his number one priority" (January 2018)"Responding to a recent opinion article by NorthJersey.com correspondent Jackie Goldschneider, the mayor said that protecting the blue laws, which prohibit shoppers from purchasing certain items on Sundays, 'has always been and will continue to be my number one priority ... As long as I am in office, the protection of our beloved blue laws will always be priority number one."News article: Link

POLAND’S PRESIDENT SIGNS SUNDAY LAW (January 2018)In a move that will no doubt be carefully watched by other European countries, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda signed a law today that limits trade on Sundays. In a country where 88 percent of the people profess the Roman Catholic faith, the new law received wide support from church leaders who argue it will greatly benefit the family life of Polish workers. Enforcement of the Sunday law will be gradually phased in between March 1st and 2020. What happens in Poland should not be dismissed as insignificant to the rest of Europe and the world. Remember, the fall of communism began with a movement in Poland. Full article from ABC News below.News Article: Link